Written Answers Wednesday 2 August 2006

Scottish Executive

Animal Welfare

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to introduce regulations under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 to protect greyhounds which have been retired from racing.

Ross Finnie: It is our intention to introduce regulations on the welfare of racing greyhounds under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006. These regulations will deal with the responsibility of the owner of the dogs for making acceptable arrangements for their welfare when they retire from racing. Draft regulations will be issued for consultation before they are presented to Parliament.

Children and Young People

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it defines a "good parent".

Robert Brown: The Scottish Executive’s vision is that children and young people should be safe, healthy, nurtured, achieving, included, active and respected and responsible to achieve the best outcomes in life. The role of parents in achieving these positive outcomes for children is fundamental and the Scottish Executive aims to support parents in achieving this goal through a range of policies and programmes.

Children and Young People

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what figures it holds on the number of children who have died as a result of "bad parenting".

Robert Brown: This information is not collected or held centrally by the Scottish Executive.

Children's Hearings

Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children have been referred to children’s hearings for under-age drinking in each local authority area in each of the last five years, broken down into (a) under 6, (b) 6 to 8, (c) 9, (d) 10, (e) 11, (f) 12, (g) 13, (h) 14, (i) 15, (j) 16 and (k) 17-year-olds.

Robert Brown: Under-age drinking is not a specific ground on which children are referred to the Children’s Reporter under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (the Act). Information provided is for the number of children referred to the Children’s Reporter only on ground (j) of Section 52(2) of the Act - "has misused alcohol or any drug, whether or not a controlled drug within the meaning of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971" - where the Reporter’s decision has been to arrange a children’s hearing. Children found to be drinking while underage may be referred to the Reporter on a number of grounds, including lack of parental care and/or offending, as set out in section 52 of the act. The decision whether or not to arrange a hearing will be based on a complete assessment of the circumstances of the child from the background reports of various agencies.

  Children Progressing to a Children’s Hearing where the Child was Referred under Section 52(2)(j) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995

  

 Age
 2003-04
 2004-05


 Under 8
 0
 0


 8
 0
<5


 9
 0
<5


 10
<5
<5


 11
<5
<5


 12
 10
 11


 13
 41
 33


 14
 71
 56


 15
 100
 61


 16
<5
<5


 Total
 219
 160



  Notes:

  1. Children referred under section 52(2)(j) are referred because of concerns about their safety. It is not possible to separate alcohol and drug misuse because of the nature of this ground for referral.

  2. It is only possible to provide this breakdown for 2003-04 and 2004-05 since the introduction of the SCRA Referral Administration Database (RAD).

  3. Children may be recorded as two ages in any one year and are counted in both.

  4. It is not meaningful to attempt to break the figures down further by local authority. Figures below five are required to be anonymised due to data protection requirements. The majority of figures would therefore simply state ">5".

Crime

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions in each of the last 25 years convicted murderers released from (a) psychiatric institutions and (b) prisons have committed murders after release.

Hugh Henry: Four individuals have committed murder following release on life licence over the last 25 years as follows: one in each of the following years - 1987/1992/1993/2003. All had been released from prison.

Crime

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many violent crimes were recorded in each year since 1990, broken down by police force area.

Hugh Henry: The requested information is shown in the following table.

  Number of Non-Sexual Crimes of Violence Recorded by the Police, 1990 to 2004, by Police Force Area

  

 Year
 Central
 Dumfries and Galloway
 Fife
 Grampian
 Lothian and Borders
 Northern
 Strathclyde
 Tayside
 All Scotland


 1990
 671
 204
 385
 617
 2,226
 299
 7,988
 708
 13,098


 1991
 632
 201
 372
 683
 2,497
 265
 10,107
 805
 15,562


 1992
 630
 227
 407
 732
 2,406
 262
 11,193
 907
 16,764


 1993
 504
 206
 390
 775
 2,256
 191
 9,132
 798
 14,252


 1994
 438
 315
 390
 794
 2,395
 261
 9,148
 751
 14,492


 1995
 437
 177
 343
 660
 2,408
 224
 9,692
 713
 14,654


 1996
 518
 222
 351
 748
 2,438
 182
 9,406
 850
 14,715


 1997
 430
 206
 353
 777
 2,179
 230
 8,172
 828
 13,175


 1998
 421
 157
 388
 871
 2,206
 288
 9,240
 770
 14,341


 1999
 419
 139
 519
 1,127
 2,474
 326
 9,791
 744
 15,539


 2000
 397
 154
 626
 1,402
 2,775
 437
 8,821
 584
 15,196


 2001
 538
 170
 657
 1,105
 2,364
 410
 9,270
 566
 15,080


 2002
 531
 221
 815
 1,093
 2,912
 401
 9,920
 568
 16,461


 2003
 501
 217
 628
 1,041
 2,493
 442
 9,318
 590
 15,230


 2004
 483
 194
 672
 868
 2,437
 477
 9,453
 635
 15,219

Crime

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether wildlife crime is addressed in any Crown Office advice on sentencing and, if so, whether the advice includes any guidance in respect of the Parliament’s wish that sentences should act as an effective deterrent.

Mrs Elish Angiolini QC: The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service does not and constitutionally can not provide advice on sentencing. Sentencing is entirely a matter for the sheriff or judge in court who hears all the circumstances of the offence and the offender.

  The Lord Advocate does have a right of appeal against "unduly lenient" sentences under the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. The independent sentencing powers of judges have always been a cornerstone of our legal system and the Appeal Court has therefore set a high test to be satisfied before a Crown appeal against sentence will be successful.

Energy

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the Department of Trade and Industry about making resources available to develop the blending of coal and biomass in the coal industry.

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the Department of Trade and Industry about introducing the blending of coal and biomass in the coal industry.

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the Department of Trade and Industry about making resources available to develop clean coal burn technology in the coal industry.

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the Department of Trade and Industry about introducing clean coal burn technology in the coal industry.

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the Department of Trade and Industry about making resources available to develop carbon capture and storage technology in the coal industry.

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the Department of Trade and Industry about introducing carbon capture and storage technology in the coal industry.

Allan Wilson: The Scottish Executive has been fully engaged with the Department of Trade and Industry during their Energy Review and we raised this issue in our response to the review.

  The full text of the Executive’s response to the review can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/06/13161455/0.

Environment

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is in respect of the control and eradication of Japanese knotweed and what action is being taken to implement this policy.

Rhona Brankin: It is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 for any person to plant or otherwise cause to grow in the wild any plant included on Part II of schedule 9 of that act. Japanese knotweed is listed on that schedule.

  Local authorities already have powers to take action where knotweed poses a threat to the local amenity of an area, or if it is considered a statutory nuisance. However, there is currently no specific legal duty on landowners or public bodies such as Scottish Natural Heritage or the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to eradicate the species once it is established.

  Japanese knotweed is an invasive non-native species. The Scottish Executive takes the issues of invasive non-native species very seriously and is working with Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Welsh Assembly Government, through the GB Programme Board, to ensure that policy and action against invasive non-native species is co-ordinated and effective across Britain as a whole. The Scottish Executive has set up a Scottish Working Group to ensure policy and practical action is co-ordinated within Scotland.

  The GB Programme Board and Scottish Working Group will continue to take forward recommendations produced in the Review of non-native species policy (Defra, 2003). Recommendation three of the review was to develop codes of conduct for relevant sectors. The Horticultural Code of Practice – Helping to prevent the spread of invasive non-native species was launched in Scotland on 1 June 2005 and has been approved as formal guidance for the purposes of Section 14B of the Wildlife and Countryside Act by the deputy Minister of Environment and Rural Development. This code contains links to best practice guidance information on the control and disposal of Japanese knotweed. Although breach of the code is not in itself an offence, the courts are entitled to take account of the code when considering cases involving non-native species.

  Action was taken via the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 to increase penalties under Section 14 for offences such as causing the spread of invasive non-native species. Penalties, on summary conviction, were increased to include imprisonment for up to six months and/or a fine not exceeding £40,000.

Environment

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has issued any directions to local authorities to (a) survey the extent of and (b) take action to control Japanese knotweed.

Rhona Brankin: The Scottish Executive have not issued any directions to local authorities to survey the extent of Japanese knotweed.

  Local authorities already have powers to take action where knotweed poses a threat to the local amenity of an area, or if it is considered a statutory nuisance. Allocation of resources for a specific purpose such as the problems caused by Japanese knotweed is a matter for individual councils to determine having taken account of local circumstances.

  The Scottish Executive have set up a Scottish Working Group to co-ordinate policy and action on invasive non-native species in Scotland. We recognise that local councils play an important part in the control and eradication of invasive non-native species, and that partnership working is the best way to achieve success on invasive non-native species policy, and as such a representative from COSLA sits on the Scottish Working Group.

Fire Safety

Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many fire appliances would be sent to an educational establishment in response to (a) an automatic fire alarm alone and (b) a 999 call in each fire authority area.

Hugh Henry: This information is not held centrally.

  The weight of response to any incident is an operational matter for the Chief Officer of the fire and rescue authority.

Fire Service

Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) fires, (b) hoax calls, and (c) false alarms other than hoaxes have been recorded in educational establishments in each of the last ten years in each fire authority area.

Hugh Henry: This information is not held in the format requested.

  The number of fires in educational establishments in the last ten years, for which figures are available, is shown in the following table by fire and rescue service area.

  

 Brigade
 1995
 1996
 1997
 1998
 1999
 2000
 2001
 20021
 20031
 2004


 Central Scotland 
 10
 5
 5
 4
 10
 16
 4
 0
 21
 18


 Dumfries and Galloway 
 2
 11
 6
 7
 6
 3
 0
 0
 0
 0


 Fife 
 14
 27
 14
 12
 10
 12
 17
 6
 12
 4


 Grampian 
 7
 17
 8
 13
 16
 5
 18
 24
 24
 33


 Highland and Islands 
 3
 0
 0
 6
 3
 5
 5
 7
 10
 0


 Lothian and Borders 
 89
 48
 41
 34
 30
 16
 44
 36
 42
 57


 Strathclyde 
 159
 124
 111
 134
 109
 123
 87
 76
 98
 129


 Tayside 
 26
 17
 26
 8
 35
 16
 24
 7
 8
 12


 Scotland2 
 310
 249
 211
 218
 217
 195
 199
 157
 215
 253



  Source: ODPM

  Notes;

  1. Excluding incidents not recorded during periods of industrial action in November 2002 and January/February 2003.

  2. Parts may not add up to totals due to rounding.

  The total number of hoax calls by fire and rescue service area in the last ten years, for which figures are available, is shown in the following table.

  

 Brigade
 1995
 1996
 1997
 1998
 1999
 2000
 2001
 2002
 2003
 2004


 Central Scotland
 396
 444
 406
 436
 477
 459
 399
 435
 383
 321


 Dumfries and Galloway
 171
 138
 141
 119
 157
 73
 82
 83
 54
 44


 Fife
 810
 729
 650
 602
 603
 627
 486
 443
 430
 361


 Grampian
 421
 486
 446
 356
 307
 330
 318
 354
 280
 247


 Highlands and Islands
 318
 284
 283
 281
 294
 262
 281
 339
 279
 218


 Lothian and Borders
 1,298
 1,280
 1,247
 1,126
 1,425
 1,265
 1,253
 1,209
 1,264
 1,136


 Strathclyde
 5,556
 5344
 4464
 4074
 4241
 4536
 4799
 4,435
 3,861
 3,690


 Tayside
 707
 636
 585
 482
 509
 529
 487
 485
 399
 333


 Total
 9,677
 9,341
 8,222
 7,476
 8,013
 8,081
 8,105
 7,783
 6,950
 6,350



  The total number of false alarms other than hoax calls by fire and rescue service area in the last ten years, for which figures are available, is shown in the following table.

  

 Brigade
 1995
 1996
 1997
 1998
 1999
 2000
 2001
 2002
 2003
 2004


 Central Scotland
 2,266
 2,121
 2,093
 1,999
 2,123
 2,093
 2,276
 2,162
 1,976
 2,039


 Dumfries and Galloway
 818
 742
 870
 812
 820
 665
 652
 716
 818
 798


 Fife
 2,428
 2,297
 2,351
 2,256
 2506
 2,550
 2,457
 2,471
 2,624
 2,775


 Grampian
 3,110
 3,130
 3,270
 3,241
 2,790
 2,953
 2,911
 3,343
 3,061
 3,203


 Highlands and Islands
 1,543
 1,587
 1,632
 1,611
 1,652
 1,865
 1,907
 2,057
 2,227
 2,145


 Lothian and Borders
 7,981
 7,750
 8,074
 8,161
 9,310
 8,928
 9,283
 9,704
 10,027
 10,422


 Strathclyde
 19,157
 19,159
 18,569
 19,024
 20,397
 21,345
 22,467
 22,086
 21,408
 22,565


 Tayside
 3,163
 3,418
 3,569
 3,378
 3,528
 3,299
 3,780
 3,755
 3,809
 3,798


 Total
 40,466
 40,204
 40,428
 40,482
 43,126
 43,698
 45,733
 46,294
 45,950
 47,745



  Data Source: Scottish Executive: Criminal Justice Series: Fire Statistics Scotland.

Health

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17976 by Mr Andy Kerr on 16 August 2005, how many operations were cancelled on (a) the day of and (b) the day after admission and how many of the patients involved were not readmitted within a month in each quarter of the last ten years for which figures are available, broken down by NHS (i) board and (ii) hospital.

Mr Andy Kerr: The specific information requested is not available centrally.

  Limited information is available centrally on the number of in-patient/day case episodes where operations/procedures were not carried out following admission. However, it is not possible to identify on what day the operation was cancelled.

  Information on the number of in-patient and day case episodes where operations/procedures were cancelled following admission for years 1996-2005, and the number of patients who were not subsequently admitted to hospital for an operation within 30 days of discharge by NHS board of treatment and hospital respectively is given in a document which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 40118).

  Operations can be cancelled due to various unforeseen pressures. Some examples of these are: an influx of emergency admissions, widespread staff sickness, theatre equipment failure or infection in wards.

  On occasions, some patients may be sent home, following admission, when a planned procedure/operation has not been carried out. Some reasons for this include; patient being unfit for treatment due to illness (e.g. chest infection), having omitted to fast before admission, failing to follow pre-admission advice on medication or where theatre time is unavailable due to unexpected complications arising in earlier theatre cases.

  In setting out my initial response to David Kerr’s report on the future shape of the NHS in Scotland, I made it clear that I supported his proposals that we should stream planned care, separating it, where possible, from emergency care. I have asked the Regional Planning Groups to develop arrangements for streaming planned care that will reduce cancellations, increase predictability and workflow and reduce waiting times.

Health

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients waited more than (a) three, (b) six, (c) nine, (d) 12, (e) 15, (f) 18 and (g) 24 months for (i) heart operations, (ii) cancer treatment and (iii) hip replacements in 1997 and 1998, broken down by NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: The majority of patients who require in-patient and day case treatment, including heart operations and hip replacement surgery, are treated quickly. Over 53% of patients treated in NHSScotland hospitals receive immediate treatment and never join a waiting list. Of those who condition does not require immediate treatment and who are placed on a waiting list, over 40% are admitted within one month and almost 70% within three months.

  The Executive has been steadily reducing the maximum waiting time for those patient who wait longer. The national maximum waiting times was reduced from 12 months to nine months on 31 December 2003 and to six months on 31 December 2005. This will further reduce to 18 weeks from the end of 2007. On 31 December 2005, no patient with a guarantee had waited more than six months for a heart operation or for hip replacement surgery.

  NHSScotland is making good progress towards meeting the next key target of a maximum wait of 18 weeks by the end of 2007. At that point, a new approach to defining and measuring waiting will also be introduced to replace availability status codes (ASCs), which have the effect at present of excluding patients from waiting times guarantees where for example, they are medically unfit for treatment, where they have asked for their treatment to be postponed, or where their treatment is highly specialised or of low clinical priority. The new approach will be fairer, more consistent and more transparent.

  Retrospective analyses of waiting times for hospital treatment compiled from SMR01 returns are based on data that does not record whether patients have had an ASC applied. The information requested has been place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 40082) and it includes the waiting times of patients who have been exempted from waiting times guarantees for the reasons given above and therefore overstates true waiting times. It is not possible to estimate the extent of the overstatement. The SMR3 waiting times census data which excludes patients with ASCs, is used for target compliance purposes, and the tables provided also include SMR3 data for hip replacement for NHSScotland from the censuses undertaken on 31 December 1997 and 1998.

  Census information on NHSScotland performance against the Executive’s maximum waiting times targets for angiography, angioplasty and coronary artery bypass graft surgery has only been collected since 2002.

  Waiting times for cancer treatments equivalent to the waiting times for the other specified procedures are not available from routinely collected hospital data, as complete information is not captured on all treatment types, such as hormonal therapy and chemotherapy, and not all cancer treatments require a hospital admission.

  Information on cancer waiting times is currently gathered through cancer audit systems in order to measure the target that "by December 2005 the maximum wait from urgent referral to treatment for all cancers will be two months" from Cancer in Scotland: Action for Change, published in 2001. Information showing performance against the target by NHS board of diagnosis is currently available for breast, colorectal, lung, ovarian, melanoma, lymphoma, urological, Upper GI and head and neck cancers and is available from the following Scottish Executive website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/health/cancer/cancerwaits.

Housing

Campbell Martin (West of Scotland) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the implications of the UK Government introducing the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) in Scotland and what provisions there are to ensure that registered social landlords receive rent for properties where LHA payments are made directly to tenants who may be involved in chaotic lifestyles and who could, if rent was not forwarded to a landlord, find themselves evicted and homeless.

Johann Lamont: The UK Government has kept the Scottish Executive informed of its plans to introduce a Local Housing Allowance (LHA) for housing benefit claimants in the private rented sector. Two Scottish local authorities (Edinburgh and Argyll and Bute) were included in the 18 LHA pathfinder authorities and we await the full evaluation reports from the pathfinders.

  As set out in the report following consultation on the Green Paper, A New Deal For Employment: Empowering People to Work, the UK Government has confirmed that it does not intend to extend LHA to registered social landlords or their tenants.

Housing

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive why Loreburn Housing Association in Dumfries and Galloway did not receive notification of its grant allocation for disabled aids and adaptations for 2006-07 until 3 July 2006.

Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

  
The allocation of funds for the national programme was announced by ministers on 8 May 2006. The specific allocation of £11.267 million funding to the Dumfries and Galloway Council area, which includes Loreburn Housing Association, was finalised and announced on 29 May 2006. In advance of the announcement, Communities Scotland staff had been in discussions with senior staff of Loreburn Housing Association to discuss its potential forward programme and gave a commitment to provide funding for 2006-07 to support disabled aids and adaptations. Between April and June the Housing Association requested and received funding of almost £15,000 for aids and adaptations. These discussions culminated in a formal programme agreement being issued to Loreburn Housing Association on 26 June 2006 following the conclusion of exchanges with the Association on other aspects of their programme and this included formal notification of the funding committed for aids and adaptations within the overall allocation to the Housing Association.

Justice

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what form any advice provided for sheriffs in relation to alternatives to custody for women takes and whether it includes information regarding availability of alternatives in the area local to particular sheriff courts.

Hugh Henry: The Executive established the Sentencing Information for Scotland website in 2005 to provide all courts in Scotland with on-line information on the range of statutory based community disposals and local offender programmes available, including those specifically geared to the needs of women offenders. The site provides this information in relation to what is available to a particular sheriff court or district court jurisdiction or alternatively by individual local authority area.

Local Government

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the five most common subjects of complaints to local authorities were in each year since 1999.

Mr Tom McCabe: This information is not held centrally.

Meat Industry

Richard Lochhead (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any representations to the UK or European parliaments in respect of concerns about imports of Brazilian beef, particularly in relation to foot-and-mouth disease.

Ross Finnie: The Executive is liaising with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on this issue. We have made no representations to the UK or European parliaments. We are aware of concerns about imports from Brazil but are currently content that EU import rules provide sufficient guarantees that beef imported from Brazil does not endanger human or animal health. Beef imports are permitted only from areas free of disease including foot-and-mouth disease. We will continue to monitor the situation closely.

NHS Staff

Mrs Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) number and (b) cost to the NHS was of (i) temporary and (ii) agency nurses in each year since 1995, broken down by NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: Information on the use and associated costs of agency nurses for individual NHS boards in Scotland can be accessed on table E13 of the following link: http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/info3.jsp?pContentID=1350&p_applic=CCC&p_service=Content.show&

  Information prior to 2001 is not available.

  Information on the number of temporary staff employed across NHS Scotland is not held centrally.

National Health Service

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the shareholdings and value of NHS endowment funds invested in companies which trade in (a) tobacco, (b) alcohol and (c) arms, broken down by NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive does not hold this information.

National Health Service

Mrs Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the implementation of an NHS national tariff.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive began implementation of a Scottish National Tariff in 2005-06. The tariff is based on estimated national average HRG (Healthcare Resource Groups) costs, derived from the Scottish Health Service Costs (Costs Book).

  It is intended that the introduction of tariffs will create an incentive to increase efficiency by encouraging benchmarking between hospitals and boards and to improve the accuracy of financial data by ensuring better recording of both cost and activity data. The Tariff is being phased in over three years for cross boundary flows i.e. patients resident in one NHS board who are treated within another NHS board. In 2005-06 it was applied to two specialties (Cardiac Surgery and Orthopaedics).

  In 2006-07 the tariff will be applied to the following eight specialties; Orthopaedics and Cardiac Surgery (first implemented in 2005-06), cardiology, ear, nose and throat, neurology, neurosurgery, plastic surgery and urology.

  In 2007-08 the Scottish National Tariff will be applied to all tariff-based cross boundary flow activity and therefore provide benchmarking data across all relevant costs.

  A Tariff Reference Group, with representation from NHS boards, is reviewing the development of an updated tariff for 2006-07. This update is expected in late summer 2006.

Planning

Campbell Martin (West of Scotland) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive why regional parks have been omitted from the map of national and international natural heritage areas (Annex A) in Scottish Planning Policy SSP6: Renewable Energy: Consultation Draft and what its position is in respect of development within regional parks.

Malcolm Chisholm: The map at Annex A of draft SPP 6 only shows those areas designated for their international and national natural heritage value. The draft confirms that it is for planning authorities to consider whether to use the development plan process to identify and protect areas designated for their local natural heritage value. This approach is appropriate for regional parks since these are designated and managed by local authorities. While such areas may be important locally, the level of protection should clearly not be as high as that afforded to internationally or nationally designated sites.

Police

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are in place to monitor the effectiveness of the police response to telephone complaints from the public.

Hugh Henry: Both call handling and complaints handling are operational matters for the relevant Chief Constable. They are both monitored by each force according to their own procedures. Every Chief Constable produces an annual report which includes the force’s responses to complaints. Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary lays a report before the Parliament each year which comments on both call handling and complaint handling under the rubric of service delivery.

Police

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether guidelines are in place to determine how quickly police forces should answer telephone complaints from the public.

Hugh Henry: The manner in which a police force handles telephone calls from members of the public is an operational matter for the relevant Chief Constable.

  The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) advises that non-statutory guidance on handling telephone calls is available to forces in Scotland. This guidance takes the form of recommendations made in an Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) thematic inspection called First Contact: Police Contact Management: HMIC Thematic Report, which is a report produced by HMIC in England and Wales with the collaboration of HMIC in Scotland. It is available at: http://inspectorates.homeoffice.gov.uk/hmic/inspect_reports1/thematic-inspections/first-contact/First_Contact-summary.pdf?view=Binary.

Police

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to Northern Constabulary to release all the relevant papers which it holds surrounding the death of Mr Willie Macrae in April 1985.

Hugh Henry: None. The release of material by Northern Constabulary is a matter for the Chief Constable of that police force.

Prison Service

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average weekly cost was of detaining (a) males and (b) females in prison (i) on remand awaiting trial and (ii) after sentence in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.

Hugh Henry: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  
Such information is not available in respect of remand and sentenced prisoners. The average annual cost per prisoner place is detailed in the SPS’s Annual Report and Accounts for each of the last 10 years which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, Bib. numbers 39629, 39630, 34446, 4045, 7929, 18239, 22587, 28640, 34075 and 37154.

Scottish Children's Reporter Administration

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has provided to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration since March 2005 in relation to the provision of information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Robert Brown: The Scottish Executive has not provided any specific guidance to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) since March 2005 in relation to the provision of information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

  Internal guidance produced for Scottish Executive staff in relation to Freedom of Information request handling is available via the Scottish Executive’s publication scheme on the website, and is therefore also available to Scottish Public Bodies and other agencies outwith the Scottish Executive. The guidance is available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/FOI.

Scottish Children's Reporter Administration

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive on what dates in this year the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration provided ministers or their officials with provisional statistics showing national and local authority data on youth justice, including figures on persistent young offenders.

Hugh Henry: The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) does not provide "provisional statistics" to the Scottish Executive on youth justice. Officials and partners in other agencies regularly receive data pre-publication. Quarterly and annual youth justice data are published on the SCRA website and laid in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Scottish Children's Reporter Administration

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it agreed with and supported the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) view that is should not issue the Q4 Youth Justice Report prepared by SCRA in April 2006.

Hugh Henry: The first run of the 2005-06 data (including data on the final quarter of 2005-06) was undertaken by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration on 1 and 2 June 2006 in accordance with agreed reporting timelines.

  This reflects the process adopted in respect of 2004-05 data, where priority was given to providing the full set of data rather than one quarter only.

Scottish Children's Reporter Administration

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, following the meeting scheduled with Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) officials on 16 May 2006, what new measures the SCRA is required to report on to ministers regarding youth justice reporting.

Hugh Henry: No meeting took place between Scottish Executive officials and Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) staff on 16 May 2006.

  With regard to youth justice reporting, no further requirements have been placed on SCRA in respect of new measures on which to report, and no directions have been made in respect of the presentation or analysis of data.

Scottish Children's Reporter Administration

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children referred to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration on grounds of lack of parental care in each year since 2001 came from the top 20 most deprived communities, as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, expressed also as a percentage of the total number of referrals for "lack of parental care".

Robert Brown: The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) does not hold information on children referred as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.

  Information provided by SCRA is for children referred to the Children’s Reporter under section 52(2)(c) of the Children’s (Scotland) Act 1995 on the basis that they were likely (i) to suffer unnecessarily; or (ii) to be impaired seriously in his health or development, due to lack of parental care. This information is provided for each local authority area for 2003-04 and 2004-05.

  This breakdown is not available for preceding years which pre-date the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration Referral Administration Database (RAD).

  

 Local Authority
 2003-04
 2004-05


 Aberdeenshire
 330
 452


 Angus
 132
 121


 Argyll and Bute
 252
 345


 City of Aberdeen 
 646
 1005


 Clackmannan
 314
 510


 Dumfries and Galloway
 783
 830


 Dundee
 618
 383


 East Ayrshire
 158
 199


 East Dunbartonshire
 67
 114


 East Lothian
 371
 325


 East Renfrewshire
 154
 74


 Edinburgh
 2376
 2507


 Falkirk
 661
 718


 Fife
 615
 765


 Glasgow 
 2047
 1629


 Highland
 854
 947


 Inverclyde
 442
 531


 Midlothian
 534
 501


 Moray
 288
 280


 North Ayrshire
 503
 328


 North Lanarkshire
 551
 440


 Orkney
 40
 28


 Perth and Kinross
 213
 210


 Renfrewshire
 644
 493


 Shetland
 48
 57


 South Ayrshire
 58
 98


 South Lanarkshire
 279
 334


 Stirling
 514
 520


 The Scottish Borders
 418
 469


 West Dunbartonshire
 561
 567


 Western Isles
 93
 115


 West Lothian
 704
 923


 Total*
 16,266
 16,781



  Source: SCRA Referrals Administration Database (RAD).

  Note: *A child may be referred in more than one local authority in the year. The total number of children referred for Scotland is a count of each child once, and does not therefore reflect the sum of the local authorities.

Scottish Children's Reporter Administration

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children referred to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration on grounds of lack of parental care in each year since 2001 came from the top 10 most economically inactive communities, expressed also as a percentage of the total number of referrals for "lack of parental care".

Robert Brown: This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA). The figures provided below by SCRA represent the children who were referred to the Children’s Reporter under section 52(2)(c) of the Children’s (Scotland) Act 1995 because they were "likely (i) to suffer unnecessarily, or (ii) to be impaired seriously in [their] health or development, due to a lack of parental care." It is only possible to provide this breakdown for 2003-04 and 2004-05 since the introduction of the SCRA Referral Administration Database (RAD).

  There is no standard definition of what is meant by an "economically inactive community". The Annual Scottish Labour Force Survey (now know as the Annual Population Survey) is the main source for providing up-to-date information on economic inactivity (people who are not in employment but do not satisfy all the criteria for unemployment - this group comprises (1) those who want a job but who have not been seeking work in the last four weeks (2) those who want a job and are seeking work but are not available to start and (3) those who do not want a job).

  Results from the Annual Labour Force Survey are available by a range of geographical areas (subject to the reliability of the results together with maintaining the confidentiality of individuals). SCRA data is only reliably available at local authority area. Therefore, the following table shows data at local authority level. The top 10 most economically inactive local authorities are highlighted in bold in the following table. The percentage of children from those 10 areas referred to the Children’s Reporter under section 52(2)(c), represented as a percentage of the total number referred under section 52(2)(c), was 37.6% in 2003-04 and 32.1% in 2004-05.

  Table: Children Referred to the Reporter and Economic Inactivity Rates by Local Authority Area in 2003-04 and 2004-05.

  

 Local Authority
 2003-04
 2004-05


 
Children Referred
(1a)
 Economic Inactivity Rates 
(Per Cent) (2a)
 Children Referred 
(1b)
 Economic Inactivity 
Rates 
(Per Cent) (2b)


 Aberdeenshire
 330
 17.1
 452
 16.2


 Angus
 132
 21.2
 121
 19.5


 Argyll and Bute
 252
 19.8
 345
 19.1


 City of Aberdeen 
 646
 20.3
 1005
 17.8


 Clackmannanshire
 314
 23.1
 510
 22.9


 Dumfries and Galloway
 783
 18.6
 830
 18.3


 Dundee
 618
 24.3
 383
 24.2


 East Ayrshire
 158
 24.0
 199
 24.4


 East Dunbartonshire
 67
 18.4
 114
 16.9


 East Lothian
 371
 21.4
 325
 18.5


 East Renfrewshire
 154
 17.7
 74
 16.6


 Edinburgh
 2376
 20.6
 2507
 19.7


 Falkirk
 661
 21.0
 718
 19.6


 Fife
 615
 20.3
 765
 18.7


 Glasgow
 2047
 30.1
 1629
 29.7


 Highland
 854
 15.5
 947
 14.4


 Inverclyde
 442
 27.0
 531
 24.5


 Midlothian
 534
 19.7
 501
 15.9


 Moray
 288
 16.9
 280
 20.1


 North Ayrshire
 503
 26.6
 328
 23.7


 North Lanarkshire
 551
 26.5
 440
 24.8


 Orkney
 40
 14.9
 28
 15.0


 Perth and Kinross
 213
 19.8
 210
 18.8


 Renfrewshire
 644
 21.9
 493
 21.7


 Shetland
 48
 13.2
 57
 13.6


 South Ayrshire
 58
 21.1
 98
 20.6


 South Lanarkshire
 279
 21.8
 334
 20.9


 Stirling
 514
 20.7
 520
 19.0


 Scottish Borders
 418
 17.2
 469
 17.9


 West Dunbartonshire
 561
 25.2
 567
 23.9


 Western Isles
 93
 15.0
 115
 18.9


 West Lothian
 704
 20.0
 923
 18.1


 Total*
 16,268
 
 16,818
 



  Notes:

  (1a) (1b) Source: SCRA Referrals Administration Database (RAD).

  (2a) (2b) Source: Annual Scottish Labour Force Survey 2004-05.

  *A child may be referred in more than one local authority in the year. The total number of children referred for Scotland is a count of each child once, and does not therefore reflect the sum of the local authorities.

Scottish Children's Reporter Administration

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what confidence it has in the data analysis and publication of figures by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA), in light of the press release by Moray Council of 11 July 2006 which said that its most prolific, persistent offenders were not included in SCRA’s baseline data of persistent young offenders.

Hugh Henry: We are satisfied that the quarterly and annual data published by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) is robust.

Scottish Executive Staff

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff left its employment in each year since 1999, broken down into staff who (a) resigned, (b) were made redundant and (c) were dismissed as a result of disciplinary action.

Mr Tom McCabe: The following table shows the number of staff in Scottish Executive core departments that resigned, were made redundant, or were dismissed as a result of disciplinary action in each year since 1999.

  Reason for Leaving

  

 Year
 Resigned
 Redundant
 Dismissed


 1999
 189
 4
 7


 2000
 187
 6
 5


 2001
 200
 29
 5


 2002
 175
 0
 3


 2003
 134
 0
 2


 2004
 99
 5
 4


 2005
 113
 0
 4


 2006 (up to end June)
 54
 0
 0



  The table does not include a number of other ways staff leave the Scottish Executive, such as transferring to another government department and leaving at normal retirement age.

Scottish Water

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority paid to Scottish Water and its predecessor bodies as a result of unpaid water bills in each year from 1993-94 to 2005-06 and what funds were used for this purpose.

Mr Tom McCabe: This information is not held centrally.

Wildlife Crime

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to ensure that the legislative improvements made by the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 are effective in deterring wildlife crime.

Mrs Elish Angiolini QC: The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has taken steps to enhance the effective prosecution of wildlife crime by establishing a network of wildlife specialist prosecutors who provide expertise in wildlife law in Procurator Fiscal offices around Scotland. The Wildlife and Habitats Crime Prosecution Forum, involving representatives from the police and other agencies working on the investigation of wildlife crime, has also been set up to identify any problems in achieving the effective enforcement of wildlife and habitats policy.

  The Scottish Executive has been involved in a programme of joint training courses with the police service, dealing exclusively with wildlife crime issues and the recent legislative improvements. As chair of the Scottish Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime, the Executive has produced a wide range of material to publicise the new legislation. This aims to inform both the general public and key agencies of the measures contained in the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act, including the increased penalties now available.

Wildlife Crime

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many offences under Part 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (a) were reported to procurators fiscal, (b) were prosecuted and (c) resulted in convictions in each of the last five years.

Mrs Elish Angiolini QC: The information requested is set out in the following table.

  Charges Under Part 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 19811,2

  

 
 
 2002-033
 2003-04
 2004-05
 2005-06


 Total Charges
 Total no. of charges reported to Procurators Fiscal
 118
 124
 78
 143


 Court Proceedings
 No. of charges where court proceedings were initiated
 47
 54
 55
 62


 No. of charges where court proceedings have resulted in a conviction
 28
 14
 25
 18


 No. of charges where court proceedings are still underway
 0
 0
 7
 34


 Non-Court Disposals
 No. of charges where there was a Non-Court Disposal (egg a Fiscal Fine or a Warning Letter) or where the charge was not prosecuted as a separate charge but court proceedings were initiated in respect of related charges.)
 69
 20
 13
 59


 No Proceedings
 No. of charges where no proceedings were taken.4
 2
 50
 10
 22



  Notes:

  1. The information in this table has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s case management database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to Procurators Fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a Procurator Fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency, the database will record details only of the amended charge.

  2. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges. Both at the stage of raising criminal proceedings and in court, individual charges may be combined where they relate to similar offences. In addition, where charges involve duplication, they may be deleted

  3. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service completed an upgrade of its electronic case management system in April 2002. Only case records created after that date contain complete data which is capable of electronic analysis.

  4. It is part of a Procurator Fiscal’s duties to independently consider reports from the police and other reporting agencies and to determine what, if any, proceedings should be taken. There will always be a proportion of cases where, following careful consideration of all the relevant factors, the Procurator Fiscal concludes that no proceedings should be taken. The Procurator Fiscal may decide to take no proceedings for a number of reasons, including lack of admissible evidence, mitigating circumstances, the age of the offence or the fact that the suspected offence is not a crime.

Wildlife Crime

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to improve the recording of wildlife crime.

Mrs Elish Angiolini QC: The Scottish Executive has been working closely with Association of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS), who have developed a strategy paper for dealing with wildlife crime in Scotland with detailed objectives for the next three years up to 2008. Objective 5 is to ensure that all wildlife and environmental crimes and incidents are properly recorded. This aim is to be achieved by putting in place local methods of properly recording wildlife and environmental crimes and incidents. ACPOS will also develop a nationally accepted system of recording wildlife and environmental crime.